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Beyonce pregnancy sparks Twitter record

Forget Libya or hurricane Irene - the big news at the weekend as far as Twitter was concerned was Beyonce's baby news.

The Grammy Award-winning star sparked a record among Twitter users after announcing she was pregnant at the MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday night.

Within minutes, Twitter saw a massive spike in activity as the happy news spread like wildfire across the globe.

"Last night (Sunday 28 August) at 10:35 pm, Beyonce's big MTV #VMA moment gave Twitter a record bump: 8,868 Tweets per second," the San Francisco-based company announced on its feed, @TwitterGlobalPR.

Beyonce, 29, arrived at the awards on Sunday night sporting a flame-coloured Lanvin dress that clearly outlined her baby bump.

"I have a surprise!" she told photographers as she posed cradling her bump on the red carpet. She later told the audience "I want you to feel the love that’s growing inside of me!" as she performed live at the ceremony, with proud husband Jay-Z watching on from the crowd.

This will be the first child for the couple, who have been married three years.

The previous record for Twitter was set during Japan's shocking win over the USA in the women's World Cup final in July, with 7,196 per second at the final whistle.

Other spikes include the royal wedding in April - with 3,966 tweets per second - and the March earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan (5,530 tweets per second).

News of Beyonce's pregnancy was still going strong on Twitter today. "Love that Beyonce found out she was preggers just before glasto. Makes her performance there all the more special," one user noted, as another tweeted, "Can I die and be reincarnated as Beyonce's baby?"